Break records and make history.
The 11th Edition of the Global Finals has come to a successful conclusion, but we have not been able to walk easily along the way. Just when we thought the epidemic had stabilized, the Delta mutation suddenly appeared. To ensure that all teams can bring their strongest players to the World Finals, we have changed the venue from China to Iceland, which is also the venue for the Mid-Season Championship in May. We had to abandon the live audience and had to adjust the opening performance of the championship and runner-up finals. All of this work must be done in two months! After unremitting efforts, we won another record-breaking global finals.
The 2021 World Finals finalists kicked off on 5 October, with the first match being Hanwha Life Esports in LCK against LNG Esports in LPL, setting the tone for the World Finals (echoing the final between LCK and LPL). In the group stage, Cloud9 in north America LCS rose to catch up with a 0-3 record, finishing second in what was considered to be the most competitive group. These exciting matches allowed the 2021 Global Finals to break the viewing record for previous Global Finals in the Western Hemisphere.
The quarter-finals and semi-finals were equally exciting. T1, Gen.G and DWG KIA won overwhelmingly in the quarterfinals (3-0 wins over HLE, C9 and MAD Lions, respectively), while Edward Gaming and 2021 Mid-Season Champion Royal Never Give Up presented their first full five-inning match. The highly anticipated semi-final between DK and T1 followed with a fierce five-set run, with DK breaking the hopes of the Faker and T1 dynasty. In the other group, EDG and Gen.G also played five sets before EDG qualified for the first time in the world finals.
In the 121 matches of the 2021 World Finals, we heard the battle song "Silver Scrapes" four times during the most intense stage of the knockout round. In the championship and runner-up finals, DWG KIA and Edward Gaming once again played five innings, the first championship and runners-up final since 2016 and the second in the history of the Global Finals.
Speaking of the world finals of the champions and runners-up finals...,
Together with our partner StreamHatchet, we have collected data from around the world, validated and standardized, and we are excited to announce that the average number of spectators per minute (AMA) for the World Championship and Runner-up Finals has reached 30,604,255, an increase of 32.82% compared to 2020 (the year's figures are also a record high), and the peak number of simultaneous viewers (PCU) has reached 73,860,742, an increase of 60.33% compared to 2020 The total viewing time for the champions and runners-up finals reached 232,638,870 hours. The 2021 World Finals reached a total of 1,084,991,999 hours of viewing time. We wouldn't have been able to achieve this without your support – thank you.
This year's World Championship and Runner-up Finals were broadcast in 18 languages on 34 platforms through 19 broadcasters. The opening ceremony of the competition, presented by MasterCard, features a short film featuring Grammy-winning artist Imagine Dragons, along with PVRIS, Bea Miller, JID and Denzel Curry, embarking on a journey themed around the runeland city-states of Pietrov and Zuan City-States.
Edward Gaming's "Scout" won the OPPO MVP Award for his outstanding performance in the five-inning match against DWG KIA.
Round 1: Ritz 6/1/8 (win)
Round 2: Loveland 0/5/1 (Loss)
Round 3: Trist 2/4/5 (Loss)
Round 4: Zoe 1/1/3 (win)
Round 5: Zoe 5/1/8 (win)
Each member of the championship team will receive a custom championship ring designed by Riot Games and Mercedes-Benz, which will bring this extraordinary global final to a successful conclusion, the first time in the history of League of Legends esports.
Finally, we would like to thank the global partners who have contributed to League of Legends esports: Bose, Cisco, Mercedes-Benz, Spotify, Red Bull, MasterCard, OPPO, Louis Vuitton, Axe, Secretlab, Verizon, Prime Gaming and State Farm. and partners in China: JD.com, Moslian, KFC, Lancome LANCOME and Intel. Without your support, we would not have been where we are today.
The 2021 Global Finals are truly unbreakable, and that's a perfect theme. Thank you all for the encouragement you have given throughout the season! We are very much looking forward to the 2022 Global Finals, which will be held in the three north American countries.